Air cooling system



Oct. 30, 1934-. 5 M. ANDERSQN 1,978,854

AIR COOLING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 31, 1934 1 e3 1 92\ a 2x B J El SE m U f QQW L] 5% r E1 E U n u "I;

11* R D Q [1 11 \E fi INVENTOR.

5AMUE1. M. ANDERSOM Patented Oct. 30, 1934 AIR COOLING SYSTEM Samuel M. Anderson, Sharon, Mass., assignor to B. F. Sturtevant Company,

Mass.

1110., Boston,

Application January 31, 1934, Serial No. 709,119

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to the conditioning of air for passenger vehicles and relates more par- .ticularly to the conditioning of air circulated through railway cars.

It is now becoming well known that human comfort requires that the air within an enclosure should be not only circulated to provide sufficient ventilation, but should in winter be warmed, with moisture added to maintain the proper relative humidity and in summer should be cooled, and moisture extracted from it to overcome the excessive humidity which is usually present.

'While the conditioning of air for motion picture theaters, hotel, ofiice and industrial buildings has been developed to a high degree in recent years, the air conditioning of vehicles, and particularly railway cars, has been more or less neglected, due, perhaps, to the peculiar problems involved and the many difilculties present. Among the difliculties which present themselves are the lack of space in a railway car, which already of necessity has had to accommodate the maximum of equipment in the minimum of space, the excessive refrigeration equipment which would have to be carried if the ordinary method of conditioning buildings were followed, the changing temperature conditions through which a railway car must pass, the cost of the equipment, and other difliculties.

Although many railway passenger cars are to day. equipped with complete air conditioning plants, it is customary to precool these cars prior to placing them in service, as after they have been standing on a siding in the hot sun, by blowing cold air through the car from a platform precooler in which ice is melted to extract heat units from air recirculated through ducts from the cars. Thus, there is required a great deal of auxiliary apparatus for precooling purposes in addition to that apparatus mounted in the car which serves to cool the car when it is in service.

According to a feature of this invention, a railway passenger car, for example, may be equipped with a mechanical refrigeration system in which any suitable refrigerant, such as freon, is compressed by the action of a motor, driven by connection to the car axles, the freon being expanded in cooling coils which are placed in an air conditioning compartment mounted in the roof zone of the car. This, so far, is the type of equipment now generally used, but, according to this invention, a separate (3011, which may be also used as a steam heating coilin winter, is mounted in the air conditioning compartment in the roof zone of the car; and ice water from a central station supply is circulated through this coil, air from the passenger space within the car is circulated over this coil by the ordinary method, and the car is precooled in this manner by utilizing a great deal of equipment already a part of the air conditioning system installed on the car.

Another problem encountered in the cooling of air in railway passenger cars in summer is, due to the inability of the air conditioning system, where mechanical refrigeration is used, to satisfactorily cool the air when the car is standing in a station or moving at low speeds. Most mechanical refrigeration systems are energized from an axle-driven generator which is not effective to operate a refrigeration system at speeds below approximately twenty miles an hour.

According to another feature of this invention, an auxiliary coil is provided in the air conditioning compartment, adjacent the cooling coils in which the refrigerant is expanded to cool the air, and is connected to a small ice bunker on the under side of the car, in which a small amount of ice is stored. When the car is standing too long in a station, or moving slowly for too long a period of time, ice water from the bunker may be circulated through the auxiliary cooling coil to cool the air during the time that the mechanical refrigeration system is inoperative, due to the slow movement or standstill of the car. The ice bunker may have small capacity since it would ordinarily not be called upon except for short intervals. The auxiliary cooling coil may be the same auxiliary coil used for precooling purposes, and may be used as the steam heating coil for heating air in cold weather.

An object of the invention is to precool a passenger vehicle with apparatus forming a part of the ordinary air conditioning equipment.

Another object of the invention is to precool a passenger vehicle and afterwards to cool the passenger vehicle with a minimum of equipment.

Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary source of refrigeration for supplementing the ordinary mechanical refrigeration equipment.

Another object of the invention is to utilize the steam 'coil of air conditioning apparatus for precooling purposes.

Another object of the invention is to use the steam coil of air conditioning apparatus for auxiliary cooling purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide station precooling equipment which serves to supply ice water to the air cooling compartment mounted in a passenger car.

. of ice.

Other objects of theinvention will be apparent from the following description taken with the drawing.

The invention will now be described in connection with the drawing, of which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a railway car equipped with the air conditioning apparatus according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is aplan view looking downwardly on the car of Fig. 1, withthe top removed;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the car of Figs. 1 and 2, with theend removed; I

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the expansion of a refrigerant in air cooling coils and the use of an auxiliary coil for heating purposes, for .precooling purposes,'or for auxiliary cooling purposes. 1

The car shown by Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is equipped with the air cooling unit 5 mounted in the roof zone of the car and operated, as shown more clearly by Fig. 2, to distribute the air in a ductless system. The fan 6 serves to draw in air and pass it over the auxiliary coil 7, the cooling coil 8, and discharge it into the passenger space.

The auxiliary coil 7 is designed, in this particular embodiment, for heating the air in winter, and with it may be associated the ordinary steam type of humidifier for adding the requisite amount of moisture to the heated air. Steam may be supplied through the steam supply pipes 9 from an ordinary steam source, the valve 10 controlling this supply.

The refrigeration system comprises the more or less standard mechanical compressor 12, driven by the electric motor 11, which, in turn, is energized from an axle-driven generator. frigerant passes through the condenser 13 and expansion valve 14, andis expanded in the pair of extended surface coils 8.

When a car, in which this type of refrigeration system is installed, has-been standing idle for some time and has become heated due to the fact'that it may have been standing on a siding in the sun, or otherwise exposed to heat, as aforestated, it has been the practice to leave the ordinary air conditioning equipment in the car idle while the car is precooled, prior to taking on passengers, by removing the hot air from it and passing cold air through it, through ducts inserted into windows and served from a platform precooler in which ice is melted to absorb heat from the car air.

According to this invention, the car is precooled by the supply of ice water from a station ice water supply. This supply, illustrated diagrammatically by the housing 15, may comprise the mechanical or any other type of refrigeration system, or may chill water by the melting When it is desired to precool the car, the flexible pipes 16 are connected to the pipes 17, which are a part of the car equipment, the valves 18 and 20 are opened, and the valves 19, 21, 22 and 10 are closed. The pump within the station supply unit 15 is operated to force ice water through the extended surface coil '7 and the fan 6 (Fig.2) is operated to cool the air within the car.

For cooling the air when the'car stands too long in hot weather in intermediate stations, or proceeds slowly for too long a period of time, the ice bunker 23 is provided. Within the ice bunker 23 are mounted cakes of ice 24 and water is circulated, by the pump 25, in contact with the icesurface through the spray nozzles 26.

when it is desired to operate this auxiliary The re-- cooling equipment, the valves 10, 18 and 20 are closed and the valves 19 and 22 1. are opened, and'the pump 25 then is able to circulate ice water from the bunker 23 to the cooling surface 7. The fan 6 is operated, as before, to pass air over the cooling coils 7, through the passenger space. When the car speeds up so that the mechanical system can again function, the valves 19 and 22 are closed and the compressor 12 again supplies the refrigerant which expands in the cooling coils 8, and again assumes the duty of cooling the air.

Whereas the invention has been described for the purpose of illustration, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details described, since many modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention..

\ What is claimed is:

1. Air conditioning apparatus for a passenger vehicle, comprising an air conditioning compartment, means for passing air through said comsenger vehicle, comprising an air conditionng compartment mounted-within the vehicle, coils in said compartment for cooling the air passing therethrough, means carried by said vehicle for compressing and supplying a refrigerant to and expanding a refrigerant in said coils, an auxiliary coil in said compartment, and means carried by said vehicle for supplying ice water to said coil.

3. Air conditioning apparatus within a passenger vehicle, comprising an air conditioning compartment mounted within the vehicle, coils insaid compartment for cooling the air passing therethrough, means for compressing and sup plying a refrigerant to and expanding a refrigerant in said coils, an auxiliary coil in said compartment, an ice water supply carried by said vehicle, and means for circulating ice water from said supply to said auxiliary coil.

4. Air conditioning apparatus within a passenger vehicle, comprising an air conditioning compartment mounted within the vehicle, coils in said compartment for cooling the air passing therethrough, means for compressing and supplying a refrigerant to and expanding a refrigerant in said coils, an auxiliary coil in said compartment, an ice water supply carried by said vehicle, and means for alternatively supplying ice water from said supply or steam to said auxiliary coil.

5. Air conditioning apparatus within a passenger vehicle, comprising an air conditioning compartment mounted within the vehicle, coils in said compartment for cooling the air passing therethrough, means for compressing and sup-' plying a refrigerant to and expanding a refrigerant in said coils, an auxiliary coil in said commeans for recirculating air from the passenger space in the car through said compartment where-it is cooled, and discharging it again into 7 the passenger space, an air cooler in said compartment for cooling the air passing therethrough, means carried by the cahr for supplying a cooling medium to said cooler, another cooler in said compartment in the path of the air passing therethrough, means outside the car for cooling a cooling fluid, and means for supplying said last mentioned'fluid to said last mentioned cooler.

7. Air conditioning apparatus for a railway passenger car comprising, in combination, a cool- 

